Vol 1 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3: Battle of Roka

1

”We looted a lot this round, we'reout here!”

Naotsugu swung his skinning knife to shake off the blood before sheathing it shi+roe nodded in agreement as he put down his staff to cancel the spells he had prepared

(I's)

shi+roe shrugged with a sigh This was really a headache There were soin this world that he forgot what he was brooding about sometimes

(I hope this doesn't become my catch phrase)

”What is it, my lord?”

Akatsuki had finished packing and was by shi+roe's side before he knew it shi+roe was unable to calm his emotions in front of her shi+ny black eyes akin to obsidian that looked at hile

”Let's go back” shi+roe said with a se the topic

shi+roe's group was in a place called 'Small Stone Herb Garden', a relatively small field zone about 1 square km in size

It was already evening, the as starting to turn chilly, and the sound of birds chirping was all around them

This zone was close to both Akiba and shi+buya, a place suitable for one-day training trips The h for a place so near the city

”Let's hurry back, then”

”Roger”

After listening to shi+roe, the girl in black, Akatsuki, replied seriously without emotion as usual as she fastened her pack

The defeated corpses of triffids and briar weasels laid all around theht particles after some time

Triffids were a type of by ball on top of it The bud would peel back in 3 parts, revealing the sharp teeth inside, a horrifying creature

A briar weasel, on the other hand, let vines grow on its body It was faster than a cat and could attack with its vines, an agile monster

The levels of the monsters were 48 and 52 respectively

Their levels were quite high in the world of Elder Tales, but they were 40 levels below shi+roe's teaain any EXP from them

After days of training, shi+roe's party suspected this world faithfully followed the settings of Elder Tales They had not confirmed this yet, but they probably needed to defeat monsters at least 5 levels below theain EXP

It would be a very tough fight if they took on level 85 ht be able to handle one, but not if they were attacked by a group

”You doing fine?”

”I took soood My defense is like an iron wall, iron festival!”

Naotsugu responded with a grin while knocking on his arauntlets made a clear, dull sound as they hit his breastplate

According to Naotsugu, you felt less pain from enemy attacks than in real life You didn't feel half dead even when your health bar was halved and only felt a bit sore and warm from the wounds all over your body

Naotsugu described the worst pain as stubbing your toe on the corner of a cabinet

(That would be painful enough to make me cry three times)

shi+roe frowned at his description, but Naotsugu continued laughing heartily

(Even if it is this way for now, there is no telling if it will remain like this)

shi+roe reht

(The low-level enee as the monster level increases Even an excellent Guardian like Naotsugu won't be able to handle it as easily as he does now We need to think of other possibilities)

Ahest HP and defense combination on the frontline was the Guardian If there were attacks Naotsugu couldn't withstand, it would be impossible for any other class to do so

(We will need a healer after all But I don't want to increase the number of teammates if we take efficiency into consideration I doubt our teaood if we invited anyone with such et wiped out, but)

The miracle of revival existed in this world

Even if they died in battle, they would respawn in the cathedral, shi+roe's group knew this

But they still refrained frouaranteed Death was still an unacceptable taboo for them

(Being able to come back to life after we die is really suspicious)

”My lord?”

”Hey shi+ro, hurry up!”

After acting together for several days, they had ress in both personal relations and teamwork than shi+roe had expected The members of this team had fitted really well to this new dyna alone

As they got used to life as a group, their individual characteristics were nified too In this teauy as responsible for worrying about things

(I have been playing the part of tactician since my Tea Party days anyway)

shi+roe got lost in his thoughts easily

He had also noticed this bad habit, but it was not soe that easily even if you knew about it

(It's okay to be the guy responsible for worrying, but I don't want to be the guy who spoils the ht

”Let's withdraw then Do you need ht?”

shi+roe asked as he prepared his Magic Light spell

”Lord shi+ro, please wait”

”There is no need to address me as lord We are comrades, can't you just call me shi+roe?”

”Then please address me as Akatsuki, too”

Akatsuki stared at shi+roe as she spoke after brushi+ng aside shi+roe's request

(How should I describe Akatsuki's gaze, hmmm)

Akatsuki was a beautiful young lady no matter how you looked at her

And because of that, shi+roe found it hard to withstand Akatsuki's gaze He didn't hate it, but it made shi+roe uncomfortable

shi+roe was a typical ho with others He didn't have irls

(No matter what excuse I use, the bottom line is I a that can't be helped, right? Yes, I understand, I really do)

”My lord”

Akatsuki said as she took a step forward, akin to kicking a man while he was down Akatsuki had to look up at hiht difference, which made shi+roe feel a little sorry

”Eru?”

Naotsugu was looking at shi+roe and Akatsuki with a su, he asked Akatsuki to continue

”I will be scouting ahead on our way back”

”Why?”

”Practice assassins have Dark Vision, Sneak, and Silent Move, I want to see how it feels using them in this world This forest is the perfect place to practice”

Akatsuki looked at the dark areas of the forest as she fastened her sith her black waist cloth,her preparations as she informed them of her intention

Moving alone

shi+roe gave his per for a while

This zone didn't seeht Akatsuki should be able to take on any single monster or run away if there were too many enemies

Akatsuki wanted to confirm her skills so she would be ready when she needed to use the the li in this world

”Be careful Let's ht as we go, you can use that to find us”

”I understand I can find you if we are in the same zone”

If you formed a party and were in the sah the direction and distance displayed on your screen It shouldn't take long for them to meet

”See you later then, shrimp Akatsuki”

”Be quiet, stupid Naotsugu”

Akatsuki retorted and was gone the next instant as if she had ed with the forest

”That shriood”

”I couldn't even hear the leaves rustle”

Naotsugu whistled

shi+roe shrugged and chanted the spell for Magic Light and the tip of his staff glowed like a lae light of the evening sun, the ht

”Let's be on our way”

”OK tactician, let's oal of panties!”

shi+roe and Naotsugu headed for the east gate under the illuht

Step by step

The trail was full of grass that looked like ribbons with dew and pebbles covered inthrough the Imperial Forest

(This is like walking in Yakushi+ma Island or the Amazon Rainforest that I saeb-TV Even if the others say this is an alternate world, I still find it hard to believe)

They could faintly hear the pleasant sounds of insects

The duo waded through the undergrowth They had to rely on Naotsugu's sword to bash a way through as they ht

”So Akatsuki's subclass is Tracker”

Naotsugu's words reminded shi+roe of the earlier conversation

The Sneak and Silent Move skills that Akatsuki mentioned were Tracker skills Tracker was one of theyou learn skills to track or avoid being tracked in turn

A feature common to all subclasses in Elder Tales was the provision of skills that were not directly related to combat Subclasses were also independent from the 12 main classes that were battle focused, so you could learn any subclass if you met the requirements

There were two main types of subclasses

One type was production subclasses like Chef, Tailor, Blacksmith, and Carpenters Players with such subclasses could craft all sorts of iteredients and facilities

It was easy to learn a production subclass, you just needed to buy an instructionEXP The EXP for a subclass was separate from battle EXP, so it was tedious to level it up But it didn't require any special quest or iteh levels if you were deterh, and you didn't need your comrades' help to do this

shi+roe was a Scribe, which was also a production subclass He could duplicatepaper and ink

Being nobles, Merchants, and Rose Garden Princesses belonged to the other type, which was the role-playing subclasses Unlike production subclasses, they couldn't craft items, but they could learn soet rare equipment in some situations

Tracker was a role-playing subclass, it had the ability to track other players or foes, erase their presence, and move in the dark

shi+roe wasn't very familiar with the Tracker subclass The 12 ned by the creators of Elder Tales, a large Ath of each class would be balanced for each update and more subclasses would be added The outsourced company in each country, such as Fuji Entertainment in japan, may create a subclass unique to its server

shi+roe remembered about 50 subclasses from memory, but with exclusive subclasses created in other servers, it was hard to guess their number

Powerful subclasses were popular and fah idea of their features But even a veteran player like shi+roe wouldn't know about some obscure subclasses

Out of the countless subclasses, Trackers were sort of well-known

It had useful abilities, but it wasn't so a player would need often so it was in the middle in terht not have heard of it, but it was more famous than Sailors or Janitors

”She is really dedicated to her role-playing”

Naotsugu grinned to express his agreement

(A Tracker assassin, she is obsessed with ninjas I can see why she would call herself one)

Akatsuki's style of giving her all ave the i pretend, but Akatsuki's serious approach to it made the act feel real

”What do you think of our shriirl, shi+ro?”

” Very active on the front lines with a high level of focus”

shi+roe replied to Naotsugu's vague question after a moment of consideration

Naotsugu was asking shi+roe for his opinion on Akatsuki

shi+roe had a good i indifferent because he felt e her

”Enough about u? Has your burden increased?”

”The burden has decreased Co the monsters way faster Some minions are dealt with before I can even turn to face the shrimp”

Naotsugu replied to shi+roe as he led the way

Naotsugu was kind and cheerful, the type that was very sociable He made crude jokes sometimes, but shi+roe felt he did this intentionally to ease the mood

But Naotsugu wouldn't ht be polite about it, but he would not lie

Frou's criticisave almost full marks to Akatsuki

”But she ht after she adjusted her appearance, right?”

”I was never a shrimp, so I wouldn't know about her reach, but with her speed and agility, that shouldn't be i a knee in the face from her? It is really instantaneous, my eyes can't keep up even if I want to block it”

”I would rather not”

Naotsugu rubbed his nose as he recalled the pain and said:

”As to her attack dropping because of her weight, it should be true since she said so herself, huh? According to the settings, your attack is not affected by gender, and having ht in your punches may not increase your attack power But this is just what she felt, so there is no other way to tell If her attack power really has decreased, then she will be fine with shi+roe's support spells backing her up”

Naotsugu said as he pried away a leaf with thorns

(About that He is right)

shi+roe was an Enchanter, one of the 3 ic attack classes Each of the warrior, weapon attack, healer, anda total of 12 classes The Enchanter was one of these twelve

Aic attack classes, Enchanter was the best at support, setting up the battle stage and using crowd control It had a variety of support spells

Keen Edge was one such support spell that increased weapon attacks

Every tie could deal additional dae with its curse vines

Attacking the psyche of the enemy to numb its senses with Mind Shock

Enchanter was a special class that contributed to victory by boosting its allies' power and controlling the flow of battle

”Yeah You're right,” shi+roe replied shyly

Enchanter was the least popular class in Elder Tales and had a bad reputation a players

shi+roe had no obligation towards anyone and chose this class out of personal preference No matter what others said, he was confident of the Enchanter's abilities and its deep potential shi+roe also knew that an Enchanter could not work alone

This class needed a party, and the effectiveness of an Enchanter widely depended on how good their teamas

This had nothing to do with the stats of the player; hoell you worked with others could not be measured numerically

Because shi+roe understood this, he felt embarrassed when others told hiether'

For Enchanters

If their existence in the teaed, it meant the player's character and personal relationshi+ps orking well

”shi+ro”

”Yeah?”

”I think you're holding back too much sometimes”

”Hmm?”

Naotsugu said as he bashed through the vegetation This change in topic was too big and shi+roe was unable to keep up

” For example panties?”

”How did this turn into a question?”

”Thethe world, you should understand that, you locked closet pervert!”

”How perverted a of yours?”

shi+roe at this u's concern, and could only chase after his back

The shi+roe right noas just a normal Enchanter

2

Theyup with Akatsuki

”Let's hurry, I miss our hotel”

Although he was tired frou was in a cheerful mood as he chatted with his teammates

This region was known as the Kanda Channel, a ruin based on the Marunouchi Metro in the real world It was the nest of deoblins and beast men now

The eneer a threat to shi+roe and the others With such a level gap, the monsters would hesitate to attack them

With the sky totally dark, shi+roe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki regretted spending too much time in the Imperial Forest

Since monsters wouldn't attack them recklessly, they could just make camp in so with theiron the roads with abandoned cars and trucks scattered all around

Akatsuki insisted that sleeping on a proper bed was more comfortable

They had furs and fangs looted fro they needed to trade for cash anyway, so they needed to go back to the city

Naotsugu, as in the lead, would turn back every now and then to confirm his party mates' statuses

(Both of theue, our level 90 bodies have considerable stamina after all)

Naotsugu sighed in relief secretly after looking at their steadfast footsteps

Unlike the two of the strength, staility

Even Naotsugu was surprised he could fight for hours wearing 40-50 kg armor

Even if he exhausted his energy, he just needed to rest for a few th He was confident of lifting 300kg in terms of his explosive power, and his stamina seemed boundless

But it was different for the others shi+roe was a pure intellect class, Akatsuki was incredibly fast, but she was a lightly arht have claimed 'there is no probleu felt he needed to accommodate them for this part

But there was no need to worry for tonight

With the bright ic illumination, the relatively smooth asphalt road with some debris and a few potholes was easy to traverse

”The goblins aren't attacking us”

”We are level 90, of course they aren't”

”I like the goblin with the skull on its head Their arrogant demeanor is cute and weird”

(Akatsuki is talking nonsense with a straight face)

Akatsuki should be referring to goblin shamans They led their kinsht look funny when they arrogantly gave commands, but they were definitely not cute

”You like those type of monsters, shrimp?”

Naotsugu asked again to be certain Akatsuki replied curtly:

”They are cute and die so easily”

They needed to be killed since they were eneu couldn't understand as so cute about them

”Most ant, but their armor is as thin as paper, and their HP is extreoblin shamans alk nonchalantly to the front lines and are easy to take down I just need to use Hide Shadow to sneak up beside them, and I can slit their throat with my blade The way their body collapses like a puppet with its strings cut is so addictive”

As she was not sure how to interpret Naotsugu's query, she shared her thoughts with the others casually

( Wah, if you put it like that, wouldn't shi+ro be troubled?)

shi+fting his gaze to the side, Naotsugu could see that shi+roe was shocked to hear that It was natural for es to have low defenses, so shi+roe didn't need to be so sad Naotsugu also knew Akatsuki doesn't mean to hurt shi+roe

But even so, shi+roe still looked depressed with Akatsuki acting so casually matter-of-fact

Naotsugu wanted to sigh looking at the two of them

(shi+ro is ss and is too concerned with trivial e burden Why is our tactician frightened to this extent?)

Naotsugu thought shi+roe was holding back too much

If so back about, Naotsugu wouldn't be able to answer This was just how he felt

Naotsugu felt the same way back when the two of them were in the Debauchery Tea Party shi+roe wanted to do things by hiood point

But the duty of a Guardian was to protect his allies

It left a bitter taste in his mouth if his teammates didn't rely on hiht shi+roe should at least rely on Naotsugu for things he was good at

”Hold on, our ht?”

”Hmm? The armor of my lord is as thin as paper too That's fine, I will protect him as his ninja”

She didn't notice his depression as she kicked shi+roe again while he was down Naotsugu thought they were interacting like children But Naotsugu was thinking the same about shi+roe too

On the whole, it was a quiet night as they chatted on their way back

They could see the elongated shadows of the goblins sneaking around in the u looked at them, they would scatter

”This is a zone adjacent to Akiba with only low-level h-level inners would be wiped out”

shi+roe said

It had been more than 10 days since they were trapped in this world, and no new players had shown up since

What was his body doing in the real world? Did all the players disappear? Or were they all in a cou and the others had no way to tell

(It ine, but our real selvestheir lives as nor back, an abandoned babies sales festival If it is like soets we ever existed at all, it would be depressing too)

Contrary to the way he acted, Naotsugu was thinking about this as a fan of fantasy novels But at this point in time, they couldn't tell

You ht say 'It has just been 10 days' or 'It has already been 10 days', everyone had a different interpretation about this But the three of therow accustomed to this world

This was the addition of alternate world physics on top of Elder Tales setting In this world twisted by these two factors, there were still soic

Even if all the food was tasteless, even if strange effects existed, they still followed a set of laws They often felt frustrated by these effects that defied coic and live in this world

They had to live in the world they were in, be it the game world or real world

(Since we can't find a way back, this is the only world for us now We can't do anything about it being the gaet used to swinging swords and adventuring Although I put on a brave face and told Marie-san 'This is far from the worst case scenario', I just wanted to say this more than anyone else)

It was a good thing for Naotsugu to get used to this so quickly He had nothing against the world he was froo back, his ansould be 'I don't know'

(I don't have a girlfriend ill show me panties, and I haven't seen otten used to work, but there was nothing very satisfying about it)

Froh Kudanshi+ta, they were just a couple of zones away from Akiba

They were not going by the Archive Tower Forest today, opting to go via the slope of Ochanoentle slope of Roka Charity Hospital, Naotsugu was reht side of the road stood a large tree with plenty of branches wearing its leaves like a jacket

The h the leaves The shadows of the leaves jerked unnaturally, u and the others scatter away from the tree hastily

(!)

Naotsugu dashed at full speed into the darkness and bashed at the bushes with his shi+eld

A yell could be heard from the dark

He could feel shi+roe's presence behind him more than a dozen meters away

Even as Naotsugu focused on his forehead, he did not let down his guard and scanned his surroundings

(There are 1, 2 3? 4?)

Even though this ithin expectations, he could still feel his throat drying up when facing it This tension was totally different fro monsters

Suddenly, he heard the sounds of chains being dragged on the ground

(Uu, too late!)

Naotsugu did not check his back as he atteled his ankles These were not real chains with a physical for spell that seemed almost real when it bound their foes

Naotsugu lost his balance in the air, his ic At this ic wave came from behind

Dispel Magic

It should be shi+roe as casting it

The snake-like chain binding Naotsugu's ankles was disintegrated by shi+roe's Dispel

(You're always so quick with support! Well, what do we do, tactician?)

The exciteht behind hiu's confidence lifted his spirits

”Naotsugu, straight line formation Our enemies are PKers, I have visual contact on 4 I'll determine their location There!”

shi+roe shouted on the road covered by the shadows of the trees in the ht

A greenish white bolt shot out of his staff Mind Bolt was the basic attack spell of Enchanters, it would strike at a single opponent, causing soe

It had less attack power compared to summoners and sorcerers of the same level But as the basic attack of the Enchanters, shi+roe had many chances to use it

shi+roe coht this was no big deal Instead of powerful spells that often ht time were much better

”Enehted!”

shi+roe's spell was perfor as he expected

The light of the spell only shone for a fraction of a second, but it was enough to see the PK-ers hidden in the darkness

Naotsugu retreated as per shi+roe's instructions about half way between the darkness and shi+roe He was right on the line dividing the 2-way road

After confiru could attack them

But instead he intentionally retreated to his position in the formation

In a line formation, the distance between the front and back was crucial If they were too far apart, the rear would be open to attacks

”They have guts, turning to PKing They miss theirthey can celebrate victory by ah”

Naotsugu turned the passion in his heart into words

The enemies were not monsters

Naotsugu despised this act of players the most

PKmonsters, a player hunted other players

Akiba was designated as a non-conation and battles were allowed

In Elder Tales, players battling other players was an officially recognized way of playing

But due to factors in Elder Tales such as the low success rate, high risk and cultural aversion of the japanese japanese players were very law abiding and hated violence a was not popular there

The mini-map in Elder Tales showed all players,to as very low

High-level players would have an innate evasion rate without the need for players to input any co even further

Simply put, sneak attacks were not effective

PKing was not banned in Elder Tales, but harass undue distress, was Although PK itself was not harass theed as harass or the ban hammer

But harassment was very much dependent on personal opinion and prejudice Even a proper PK ht be viewed as harass in the perpetrator being locked out of his account

That's why PKing was a high risk action

But things were different in this alternate world

They couldn't view the h-level players could be a attack

Unless the player was a real-life uard up all the time

Harassment reports could only be done after the officials reviewed the records When Elder Tales was still a gah the Game Masters' 'Hand of God' But such convenient saviors didn't exist in this world anymore

The chance of a sneak attack working increased, the risk of being reported was gone

And PKing gave lots of benefits

After defeating other players, they could be stripped of all their gold and soh some ite would be lost, spread around your corpse

There were more cons than pros back then, but that had been reversed

This was the reason why PKing was becoular occurrence in Elder Tales

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